Homemade Incubator temp control question

[dgkatz]

I have my incubator set up with a water heater thermostat and light bulb for heat. I have it set to 99.5 and it does turn off promptly when the temp is reached. My problem is that it has to drop into the 80's
before it will turn back on. Any thoughts or input?

thanks

 

[backpack09]

I set mine up so the range of on and off was 98.4ish to 101.5ish (measured in a waterwiggler)

I used a piece of tin foil to keep the lightbulb from directly heating the metal on the thermostat, thus making it read the air temperatures.

 

[dgkatz]

What sort of t-stat are you using?

 

[backpack09]

The lower thermostat from a hot water heater that reads from 90* to 150*.
Do you have a fan running in your incubator?
How are you measuring the temperature? If you are using a medical thermometer try sticking it in a small cup of water.

 

[dgkatz]

Medical thermometer just in the air. I do have 1 PC case fan in the top of the unit. the t-stat is set back away from the bulb

 

[backpack09]

The thing with testing the air is that you really want to know the temps inside the eggs. By putting the thermostat in a small dish of water, it will simulate the internal temps of the egg better.

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

Move your thermostat, light an fan close together. That way the heat off the bulb heats up the thermostat quicker an it kicks off faster. then turn the thermostat up to where it kicks on an around 99 degrees. That way it will kick on at 99 an the thermostat will get hot an kick off before the air in the incubator gets much above 100.